Ketchum Global Research & Analytics has conducted PRSA’s Membership Study since 2008, testing concepts related to member satisfaction, likelihood to renew and perceived value of various products/services – with the ultimate goal of uncovering drivers of sustained membership and growth. In recent years, PRSA has been challenged with a declining membership pool, so our research set out to understand what appeals most to members from an educational/resource and industry organization perspective to ultimately offer solutions for maintaining PRSA’s strength in the years ahead.

In this year’s study, we saw a pattern in demographics that revealed an interesting predicament for PRSA: as Boomers leave the workforce and retire, they are being replaced in PRSA – albeit not as rapidly – with younger Millennial members. To put the age differences into perspective, in our 2011 study Boomers outweighed Millennials 45% to 27% of total membership – that ratio in 2014 was 29% Boomers to 32% Millennials – a gap which is only expected to increase in favor of the Millennial crowd. With this shift, we’ve seen a change in what members value, revealing an opportunity for PRSA to hone-in on what these younger, less-tenured members look for in PRSA to help maintain its membership pool.

This is a preview of Strategic Ingredients: Inspiration And Innovation. Read the full post

It is quite mystifying to think what life would be like if I hadn’t signed on that dotted line back in May of 2005.

I could have easily skipped my university’s first PRSSA meeting to do a number of things — intramurals with friends, hit the books to better understand the differences between minocyclines and tetracyclines or maybe update my profile on this new site called thefacebook.com.

Luckily for me, I went to that meeting and established my membership, which is now approaching seven years as a PRSA/PRSSA member.

PRSSA provided me with ample opportunities to establish my confidence as a leader within my Chapter and later, on a larger scale, as a National Committee member. It also provided me the opportunity to meet my eventual employer at the PRSSA National Conference in Philadelphia.

Once a graduate, I didn’t hesitate signing on that dotted line once more to establish my membership — this time as a PRSA member — and opportunities have continued to emerge. As a young professional in my PRSA Chapter, my membership has meant a few things to me.

Do you want to become the next Seth Godin, Steve Jobs, or Daymond Johns? I am going to walk you through some points to help you establish yourself as a thought leader in the era of digital technology. One disclaimer: Having a blog doesn’t make you a thought leader in the same way that having an iPhone will not make you think like Steve Jobs. The context of thought leadership in this article is helping individuals understand how to use digital technology, content curation and branding as a thought leadership strategy.

This is a preview of Five Points to Establish Yourself as a Thought Leader. Read the full post

I talk a lot about the need to do a better job of integrating social media into the world of higher education. That’s why when my alma mater asked me to speak at their annual Communication Week this year, I jumped at the opportunity. Because these students are already learning the basics of social media in their core communication classes, I didn’t want to do yet another Social Media 101 type presentation. Instead, I wanted to help them understand that even though they may learn what Twitter is, how to use it, and some case studies, there’s nothing like doing it in the real world. That’s why I gave a presentation titled “The 7 Things About Social Media That You’re Not Going to Learn in College.”

Here’s the presentation I gave, with the key takeaways below:

This is a preview of 7 Things About Social Media That College Won’t Teach You. Read the full post

Welcome

Join the public relations conversation and get connected with expert insight from our guest bloggers! The views and opinions expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policies or positions of PRSA.